Closure latch

ABSTRACT

A closure latch includes a housing in which is slidably mounted a slide assembly including a side-bar-type lock cylinder. The slide assembly is bodily shiftable, transversely of the path of movement of a latch bolt, between locked, unlocked, and unlatched positions. When the slide assembly is in the locked and unlocked positions, the end of the lock cylinder blocks movement of the bolt to unlatched position. Also in these positions, the side bar of the lock cylinder cooperates with a rib of the housing to block movement between the positions unless a key is inserted. When the slide assembly is moved to the unlatched position, the lock cylinder permits the bolt to move to unlatched position. The bolt blocks movement of the slide assembly to unlocked position while in unlatched position by engagement with the side of the lock cylinder, and a coil spring seated between the slide assembly and housing provides a biasing force for automatically returning the slide assembly to unlocked position when the bolt moves to latched position.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Robert M. Andersen Lincoln Park; Stanley Kwasiborski, Jr., Hazel Park, both of, Mich.

[21] Appl. No. 820,499

[22] Filed Apr. 30, 1969 [45] Patented June 1, 1971 [73] Assignee General Motors Corporation,

Detroit, Mich.

[54] CLOSURE LATCH Primary Examiner-Marvin A. Champion Assistant Examiner-Robert L. Wolfe Attorneys-E. W. Christen and Herbert Furman ABSTRACT: A closure latch includes a housing in which is slidably mounted a slide assembly including a side-bar-type lock cylinder. The slide assembly is bodily shiftable, transversely of the path of movement of a latch bolt, between locked, unlocked, and unlatched positions. When the slide assembly is in the locked and unlocked positions, the end of the lock cylinder blocks movement of the bolt to unlatched position. Also in these positions, the side bar of the lock cylinder cooperates with a rib of the housing to block movement between the positions unless a key is inserted. When the slide assembly is moved to the unlatched position, the lock cylinder permits the bolt to move to unlatched position. The bolt blocks movement of the slide assembly to unlocked position while in unlatched position by engagement with the side of the lock cylinder, and a coil spring seated between the slide assembly and housing provides a biasing force for automatically returning the slide assembly to unlocked position when the bolt moves to latched position.

PATEI'H'EUJUH m 3,581. 532

ATTORNEY CLOSURE LATCIII This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to vehicle body closure latches having a manually operable slide assembly for selectively blocking or releasing latch means to control the movement of a vehicle body closure between open and'closed positions.

The closure latch of this invention is particularly adaptable for use as a glove box door latch. In its preferred embodiment, the slide assembly includes a conventional side-bar-type lock cylinder and is slidably mounted for manual movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions transverse ly of the path of movement of the latch bolt. The lock cylinder and bolt have interengaging portions which block movement of the bolt to unlatched position when the assembly is in locked and unlocked positions. When the assembly is manually moved to unlatched position, the interengaging portions of the lock cylinder and bolt are free to move relative to each other so that the bolt can move to unlatched position. In order to block movement of the slide assembly while the bolt is in unlatched position, the interengaging portion of the bolt swings into the path of the lock cylinder. Further, a resilient biasing force is set up when the assembly moves to unlatched position to automatically return it to unlocked position when the bolt returns to its latched position. The side bar of the lock cylinder is interengageable with a fixed rib in both the locked and unlocked positions of the assembly. Thus, when the assembly is in one of'these positions and the key is removed, it cannot be moved to the other position.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved vehicle body closure latch which includes a slide assembly manually movable between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions relative to releasable latch means and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position only in its unlatched position. Another object of this invention is to provide such a closure latch wherein the slide assembly includes a conventional side-bar-type lock cylinder, with the side bar being cooperable with fixed means in the locked and unlocked positions of the assembly to thereby block movement from one position to the other when the key is removed. A further object of this invention is to provide such a closure latch wherein the slide assembly and bolt include interengaging blocking means blocking movement of the bolt when the slide assembly is in locked and unlocked positions. Yet another object of this invention is to provide such a closure latch wherein the blocking means blocks movement of the slide assembly from unlatched position to another position whenever the bolt is in unlatched position. Yet a further ob ject of this invention is to provide such a closure latch wherein a resilient biasing force is set up when the slide assembly is moved to unlatched position to automatically return the slide assembly to unlocked position when the bolt moves from unlatched to latched position. These and other objects of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a vehicle body instru ment panel having a glove box and embodying a closure latch according to this invention for holding the glove box door in closed position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partially broken-away view of a portion of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated byline 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the slide assembly in unlocked position; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the slide assembly and bolt in unlatched position. Referring now to FIG. 1, the instrument panel 10 of a vehicle body includes a metal frame 12 which is suitably covered with decorative resilient material 14. A glove box 16 of conventional construction is mounted to the frame 12 of the instrument panel and opens outwardly through an opening 18 thereof. The glove box 16 is opened and closed by glove box door 20 which is conventionally hinged adjacent its lower edge 22 to either the glove box 16 or to'the frame I2 for swinging movement between a closed position as shown in FIG. 1 and an open position, not shown, clockwise of its position shown therein to permit access to the glove box. The door 20 is held in closed position by a closure latch designated generally 24 according to this invention.

As shown in FIGS. 2 through 6, the closure latch 24 includes a diecast housing 26 having an elongated peripheral wall 28 which projects outwardly through a similar shaped opening 30 in the door 20. The housing further includes laterally extending apertured ears 32 which are screwed or bolted at 34 to embossments 36 of the inner panel of door 20 to thereby mount the housing on the glove box door. The side portions 38 and 40 of wall 28 have transversely aligned slots 42 and the flanges 44 ofa slide 46 are slidably received in the slots to mount the slide on the housing 26 for movement transversely thereof. An escutcheon 48 fits against the outer edge of the wall 28 to close the opening of the housing 26. The escutcheon is conventionally secured to the upper and lower portions of wall 28 and cooperates with the slots 42 in providing a guide for the slide 46. The escutcheon 48 includes an elongated inner peripheral wall 50, and the opening through this wall to the housing 26 is always closed by the slide 46 regardless of its position.

A conventional side-bartype lock cylinder 52 is bolted or otherwise secured, FIG. 3, to the slide 46 to provide a slide assembly movable within the housing 26 to various positions, as will be described. The lock cylinder opens outwardly through an outwardly tapered bell mouth opening 54 in a manually grippable escutcheon 56 of the slide. The shape of the escutcheon 56 permits a properly bitte-d key, schematically indicated in FIG. 5, to be inserted into the lock cylinder 52 to release the side bar.

The upper wall of the housing includes a downwardly extending generally T-shapedintegral rib 58, and when the slide assembly is in certain positions, as will be described, the side bar 60 of the lock cylinder is cooperable with the shank part of rib 58 to block movement of the slide assembly to other positions.

A conventional fork bolt 62 is pivoted at 64, FIG. 3, between the walls of an upwardly extending open portion 66 of the housing 26. A coil torsion spring 68 is mounted on the pivot 64 and extends between the bolt 62 and the lower wall of portion 66 to continuously bias the bolt counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 3 to its unlatched position which is indicated schematically therein. When the bolt is in latched position, it engages a generally U-shaped conventional striker 70, secured to the upper wall of the glove box 16, to thereby hold the glove box door 20 in closed position.

FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 show the glove box door 20 in a closed position and the slide assembly in locked position. The side bar 60 of the lock cylinder 52 is located to the right, as viewed in FIG. 2, of the shank part of rib 58, to retain the slide assembly in locked position. The edge of a laterally extending lug 72 of the lock cylinder engages a tail or leg 74 of the bolt 62 to thereby hold the bolt in its latched position against a movement to unlatched position. Thus the glove box door 20 is in a closed and fully locked condition.

When the properly bitted key is inserted through the opening 54 of escutcheon 56 into the lock cylinder 52, as shown in FIG. 5, the side bar 60 is, of course, retracted within the lock cylinder so that the slide assembly can be manually moved to the left from its locked position of FIG. 4 to its unlocked position of FIG. 5. The side bar 60 is now positioned to the left of the shank part of rib 58. As long as the key remains in the lock cylinder, it can, of course, be shifted at will between its locked and unlocked positions, but as soon as the key is removed in the unlocked position, the side bar 60 will block any movement of the slide assembly to its locked position. In the unlocked position of the slide assembly, the edge of lug 72 still engages the bolt tail 74 to block any movement of the bolt to unlatched position. It will be noted that the edge of the lug 72 includes a slight depression or notch 76 which engages the bolt leg 74 when the slide assembly is in unlocked position. This provides a releasable slight detent between the slide assembly and bolt so that the operator has an indication of the unlocked position of the slide assembly when he manually moves the slide assembly from its locked position to unlocked position.

Should the slide assembly now be manually moved from its unlocked position of FIG. 5 to its unlatched position of FIG. 6, the lug 72 will move to the left of bolt tail 74 to thereby permit the spring 68 to move the bolt to its unlatched position shown schematically in FIG. 3 and in FIG. 6 and permit the door to be opened. As shown in FIG. 6, the tail 74 swings past the lock cylinder 52 when the slide assembly has been moved to its unlatched position to thereby block any return of the slide assembly to unlocked position as long as the bolt remains in unlatched position. This, of course, prevents damaging of the bolt and slide assembly.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a coil compression spring 78 has one end thereof anchored on the side portion 40 of wall 28 and projects toward the side portion 38. When the slide assembly is moved from its unlocked position shown in FIG. 5 to its unlatched position shown in FIG. 6, a lateral flange 80 of the slide 46 engages and compresses the spring 78 to thereby set up a resilient biasing force biasing the slide assembly to the right to unlocked position. This movement, of course, is prevented by the bolt tail 74 as long as the bolt remains in unlatched position. However, as soon as the bolt returns to latched position, the biasing force of the spring 78 automatically returns the slide assembly to unlocked position without requiring any manual movement. The engagement of the bolt leg 74 within notch 76 of lug 72 provides a releasable detent which locates the slide assembly as it moves from unlatched position to unlocked position.

From the foregoing description, it is believed clear that the closure latch of this invention has the advantage of being selectively placed in either a locked or an unlocked position by means of a key, and once the key is removed, it cannot be moved between these two positions. Thus, once the operator inserts the key and places the latch in the unlocked condition, he can remove the key and thereafter open and close the glove box door at will without ever having any fear that the door can be locked without requiring any key operation. Also, in order to open and close the door, the latch need only be manually moved from its unlocked to its unlatched position, and thereafter when the door is manually closed, it will automatically return to its unlocked position.

Thus this invention provides an improved vehicle body closure latch.

We claim:

I. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, slide means mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in unlatched position, key-operated means for maintaining the slide means in locked position, and cooperating means on the slide means and latch means formaintaining the slide means in unlatched position when the latch means is in unlatched position.

2. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, slide means mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in unlatched position, key-releasable means on the slide means engageable with cooperating means on the support for selectively and alternately maintaining the slide means in locked or unlocked position against bodily shifting movement therebetween, and cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for maintaining the slide means in unlatched position when the latch means is in unlatched position.

3. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, a slide assembly including a lock cylinder slidably mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement transversely of the path of movement of the latch means between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the lock cylinder and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide assembly is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide assembly is in unlatched position, the lock cylinder including a key-releasable locking member engageable with cooperating means on the support for selectively and alternately maintaining the slide assembly in locked or unlocked position against bodily shifting movement therebetween, and cooperating means on the slide assembly and latch means for maintaining the slide assembly in unlatched position when the latch means is in unlatched position.

4. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, slide means mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in unlatched position, key-operated means for maintaining the slide means in locked position, and cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for releasably maintaining the slide means in unlocked position against bodily shifting movement.

5. The combination recited in claim 1 including cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for releasably main taining the slide meansin unlatched position against bodily shifting movement when the latch means is in unlatched position.

6. The combination recited in claim 1 including means automatically bodily shifting the slide means to unlocked position upon movement of the latch means to latched position.

7. The combination recited in claim 3 wherein the lock cylinder is elongated laterally of the slide assembly and is engageable endwise with the latch means to block movement of the latch means to unlatched position and is engageable sidewise with the latch means to maintain the slide assembly in unlatched position.

8. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, first resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, slide means including a key-operated lock cylinder mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the lock cylinder and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in unlatched position, cooperating means on the lock cylinder and support for maintaining the slide means in locked position, second resilient means biasing the slide means from unlatched to unlocked position, and cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for maintaining the slide means in unlatched position against the action of the second resilient means when the latch means is in unlatched position.

9. The combination recited in claim 8 wherein the lock cylinder is of the side-bar-type and includes a key-releasable side bar, the side bar being eng' geable with a rib on the support for maintaining the slide means in locked position against bodily shifting movement.

10. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, first resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, a slide assembly including a key-releasable elongated side-bar-type lock cylinder mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked, and unlatched positions, the lock cylinder being engageable endwise with the latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide assembly is in locked and unlocked positions and per mitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position to unlocked position, the lock cylinder being engageable sidewise with the latch means when the latch means is in unlatched position and the slide assembly is in unlatched position to maintain the slide assembly in unlatched position against the bias of the second resilient means, the second resilient means automatically bodily shifting the slide assembly from unlatched position to unlocked position upon movement of the latch means from unlatched to latched position. 

1. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, slide means mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in unlatched position, key-operated means for maintaining the slide means in locked position, and cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for maintaining the slide means in unlatched position when the latch means is in unlatched position.
 2. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, slide means mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in unlatched position, key-releasable means on the slide means engageable with cooperating means on the support for selectively and alternately maintaining the slide means in locked or unlocked position against bodily shifting movement therebetween, and cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for maintaining the slide means in unlatched position when the latch means is in unlatched position.
 3. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, a slide assembly including a lock cylinder slidably mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement transversely of the path of movement of the latch means between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the lock cylinder and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide assembly is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide assembly is in unlatched position, the lock cylinder including a key-releasable locking member engageable with cooperating means on the support for selectively and alternately maintaining the slide assembly in locked or unlocked position against bodily shifting movement therebeTween, and cooperating means on the slide assembly and latch means for maintaining the slide assembly in unlatched position when the latch means is in unlatched position.
 4. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, slide means mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in unlatched position, key-operated means for maintaining the slide means in locked position, and cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for releasably maintaining the slide means in unlocked position against bodily shifting movement.
 5. The combination recited in claim 1 including cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for releasably maintaining the slide means in unlatched position against bodily shifting movement when the latch means is in unlatched position.
 6. The combination recited in claim 1 including means automatically bodily shifting the slide means to unlocked position upon movement of the latch means to latched position.
 7. The combination recited in claim 3 wherein the lock cylinder is elongated laterally of the slide assembly and is engageable endwise with the latch means to block movement of the latch means to unlatched position and is engageable sidewise with the latch means to maintain the slide assembly in unlatched position.
 8. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, first resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, slide means including a key-operated lock cylinder mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked and unlatched positions, cooperating means on the lock cylinder and latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide means is in unlatched position, cooperating means on the lock cylinder and support for maintaining the slide means in locked position, second resilient means biasing the slide means from unlatched to unlocked position, and cooperating means on the slide means and latch means for maintaining the slide means in unlatched position against the action of the second resilient means when the latch means is in unlatched position.
 9. The combination recited in claim 8 wherein the lock cylinder is of the side-bar-type and includes a key-releasable side bar, the side bar being engageable with a rib on the support for maintaining the slide means in locked position against bodily shifting movement.
 10. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support, latch means mounted on the support for movement between latched and unlatched positions, first resilient means biasing the latch means to unlatched position, a slide assembly including a key-releasable elongated side-bar-type lock cylinder mounted on the support for bodily shifting movement between locked, unlocked, and unlatched positions, the lock cylinder being engageable endwise with the latch means for blocking movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide assembly is in locked and unlocked positions and permitting movement of the latch means to unlatched position when the slide assembly is in unlatched position, the side bar of the lock cylinder being selectively and alternately engageable with opposite sides of a rib on the support for selectively and alternately maintaining the slide assembly in locked or unlocked position against bodily shifting movemeNt, second resilient means on the support engageable by the slide assembly upon movement of the slide assembly to unlatched position for biasing the slide assembly from unlatched position to unlocked position, the lock cylinder being engageable sidewise with the latch means when the latch means is in unlatched position and the slide assembly is in unlatched position to maintain the slide assembly in unlatched position against the bias of the second resilient means, the second resilient means automatically bodily shifting the slide assembly from unlatched position to unlocked position upon movement of the latch means from unlatched to latched position. 